All Blog Posts Tagged 'review' (38)

Animated and in 3D, Charles Dickens’ beloved holiday story, A Christmas Carol, spills onto screens again. A garish demonstration of the capabilities of the new 3D technology, the story only pops out when it possesses an opportunity to show off the technology.

Scrooge (Jim Carrey) is a miserly old man who holds tight each penny in his pocket. After his business partner, Marley (Gary Oldman) dies, Scrooge loses all perspective, turning even surlier than he was before. Devoid of all… Continue

Even motivational speakers can be stricken with bouts of insecurity and Burke is no different. Love Happens’ flat main characters are almost saved by complex and well portrayed secondary characters who steal the scenes whenever they are on screen.

After the death of his wife, Burke (Aaron Eckhart) shares his grief with other people who have lost their loved ones by creating a self help program called A-Okay! While traveling to Seattle for a conference, he meets the beautiful and… Continue

The Inglourious Basterds are sent into occupied France to “kill Nazis”, and killing is what they do; along with everyone else in the movie. Quirky dialogue, multi-dimensional characters, and special attention to the aesthetics wraps the audience in a unique movie-going experience.

Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) assembles a team of Jewish-American soldiers called the Inglourious Basterds, to be dropped into France to commit guerilla attacks on Nazis. In nearby France, perfectly… Continue

It has been a crazy couple of weeks and writing has not come easily so I just threw together these short reviews of GI Joe, Julie and Julia, Away we Go, and Aliens in the Attic as well as a complete review on District 9.
Aliens in the Attic
After an hour of dimwitted dialogue, the alien planet the antagonists hail from becomes a viable option to escape the mind-numbing effects of this movie.

When the Catholic Church in Korea tries to cure a disease, the treatment has unexpected consequences: vampires – of a sort. Unconventional, uncomfortable, shocking, hysterical, and fantastically entertaining, Thirst (Bakjwi) made me squirm with stomach-turning delight.

Unsatisfied with his life, Father Sang-hyeon (Kang-ho Song) agrees to volunteer for a life-threatening medical experiment. The experiment goes as planned but the treatments have a serious side effect for Father… Continue

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is the sixth movie in Harry Potter film series. Too dependent on previous films or expecting the audience to have read the books, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince fails to develop into a complete movie.

Based on the true story of a notorious depression-era bank robber, Public Enemies brings the crime spree and police hunt of John Dillinger to the silver screen. In a film that desperately attempts to provoke any emotion, Public Enemies fails to capture the imagination, create emotional dimension or shock the senses.

In 1933, during the height of the Great Depression, John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and his crew crisscrossed the country, robbing banks and became folk heroes. During an… Continue

When a subway car is taken hostage, it’s left to the dispatcher to save the passengers from the gunmen. Packed with action and sprinkled with emotion, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, based on a book of the same name by John Godey, is a satisfying action-packed escape.

Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is directing motormen through the tunnels of the New York Subway when armed men take control of a train. Ryder (John Travolta), the leader of… Continue

Dr. Rick Marshall, bent on proving his crack-pot theory, is literally dumped into a land with dinosaurs, distant primates and evil alien overlords. Land of the Lost suffers from a lack of comedic timing, outdated effects, pitiful editing, and painfully shallow writing, but offers plain silliness as a consolation prize.

Disgraced and outcast, Dr. Rick Marshall (Will Farrell) is inspired to finish his work by graduate student Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel). Using the newly finished… Continue

Every so often, a movie comes along that inspires the audience to live a better way, to take risks, and stop making excuses. I was stunned that this inspirational, physics defying film comes in the form of Pixar’s Up, a animated wonderment about an old man wracked with grief, a yellow dog, a chubby little boy and a huge flightless bird, in a floating house.

Terminator Salvation is a pre-sequel (or is it a se-prequel) to the previous three movies in the Terminator series. Atrocious writing, shoddy effects and lackluster acting made me wonder why they bothered to make Terminator Salvation at all.

Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) is recruited by Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter) while on death row to be part of a mysterious experiment. Years later, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and Star… Continue

The Brothers Bloom unwinds the story of two confidence men, an Asian sidekick and their rich but isolated mark. The Brothers Bloom is a charming off kilter dramedy about love.

Bloom (Adrien Brody) and his brother Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) work as confidence men with their explosive sidekick Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi). Tired of the life, Bloom tells his brother he’s done. His brother talks him into one final con agains Penelope Stamp… Continue

Forged in the heat of war and personal tragedy, claw wielding Wolverine was born. Shoddy production and inconsistent writing makes me wish that X-Men Origins: Wolverine could be retroactively aborted.

After his life is turned upside down, the young James Logan - Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) embarks on a tragic journey with co-mutant Victor Creed (Live Schreiber) that spans four wars and endless killing. When the wars finally end, they are dispatched to be members of… Continue

Happy New Year! As you may know, the Sc-Fi channel runs a Twilight Zone marathon on New Years's Eve and New Year's Day. It's fun to see all the old filmmaking techniques, the occasional bad acting, the weirdness of the stories and how freaky that narrator is (Futurama does a perfect parody called "The Scary Door".) But it's also fun to see American culture and weird beliefs in this era.

One episode called "The Obsolete Man" had this weird "git them godliss commies!" feel to it. A… Continue

I just got done watching the movie "Death Sentence" with Kevin Bacon and a full on cast of people too desperate for money to pass up the script. Oh, and John Goodman too.

I have to start off by saying that I'm pretty sure Hollywood was experimenting here. "This time" the executive says "We'll be pairing Fox News watching 60+ city dwelling executives with a group of various 14 year olds. Some of these 14 year olds probably play too many FPS's, others have heard so many stupid myths… Continue

My atheist jaunt on Facebook stirred some feathers, it seems. I got some drunken heckling for it from someone that used to be a friend, and since as far as my ideology is concerned I REALLY care about this, I'm going to respond. I don't give a shit if you don't like it. You know who you is.

Firstly, issues were taken with me even having the audacity to argue with christians and what they believe. Why can't I just leave them alone, eh? Why can't I keep my mouth shut?

This week I had the pleasure of attending a recital given by this extremely talented quartet of swiss-latino saxophones who boast the palindromic name of "saXas". The ensemble played jazzed-up versions of La Danza, Historia del Tango and Suite Hellenica among others.

Mélanie Clivaz, founder of the ensemble and alto saxophone player, is hypnotic. While performing the Suite Hellenica I could just imagine this delicate pale woman in a void in which she shined… Continue